Video Devices News

Read the "Road Test" of the PIX-E5 by Digital Cinema Society founder and cinematographer James Mathers.

"Working with the large variety of cameras and formats that come my way is both a blessing and a curse. While it’s fun to try new gear and discover different ways of working, it can also be challenging to feel comfortable and confident in the tools you’re using when they are different for each job.

A prep period is usually built into the schedule of longterm projects, but some of the short assignments coming my way lately throw new gear at me with little notice, yet I’m still expected to hit the ground running. In the last five weeks, I’ve had five completely different types of projects come my way, each requiring a different camera and format."

I was somewhat reluctant to add another new element to the mix, but during this same period, I had also been asked to evaluate the new PIX-E5 monitor/recorder, so I decided to bring it along and see if I could make use of it in real production environments. For my money, on the set, where the rubber meets the road, is the only real place to meaningfully test gear. Instead of adding complexity, the PIX proved extremely valuable in uniting these diverse packages, and raised my comfort level across all the jobs by offering one constant tool that worked with all the various camera systems: Panasonic VariCam35, RED Epic, Canon XC10, Canon C300, and Canon 7D HD/DSLR."